


Christmas Baking

by SwedishGirl



Category: Westlife
Genre: Baking, Christmas, Christmas Cookies, Christmas Special, Fatherhood, Ireland, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:00:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28301997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwedishGirl/pseuds/SwedishGirl
Summary: Westlife are making gingerbread cookies in Mark's kitchen.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	Christmas Baking

It had all started out during their pre-Christmas get-together dinner that they'd had together with their partners and children in mid-December. Two of the wives had been talking about Christmas planning and Nicky happened to overhear a sentence or two:

"....they've always been away doing promotion..."  
"....I don't think they realize the amount of work..."

When Nicky heard someone suggesting the four lads probably didn't even know how to make gingerbread cookies, his competitive side kicked in and he couldn't keep quiet.

"Excuse me. Of course we know how to make gingerbread cookies! Right lads?"

Nicky looked around at the other lads but no one answered.

"Shane? Mark? Kian? We can make gingerbread cookies, right?"

Mark tried not to giggle. Kian shook his head in disbelief and Shane just rolled his eyes and let out a deep breath, knowing exactly where this was going.

“What’s in them, then?” someone asked.  
“Well, you know. A bit of flour. Some sugar. A dash of…ginger. Some....help me out here Mark..."  
"Cinnamon...” Mark mumbled.  
“Cinnamon!”  
“Cloves. Butter. Treacle..."  
"Yeah! Exactly! Not complicated. At all."  
"But then you have to roll it out, cut out the cookies, bake them, decorate them..." Mark said with a skeptical look on his face.  
"Yeah. There you go. No big deal. We could do that."

And that was it. The partners had given the four lads the mission to make this year’s gingerbread cookies. And Nicky had gladly accepted the challenge - on behalf of all four of them. The other three were not overjoyed.

* * *

"Okay lads, so I made the dough last night because as you all know, gingerbread cookie dough needs to rest overnight in the fridge." Mark said and took out a big bowl of dough.

The four of them had gathered around the kitchen island in Mark's kitchen in Sligo. It was the day before Christmas.

"Are you kidding me?" Nicky said. "You could've just bought the dough like normal people!"  
"Of course not! It's not nearly as good as the one you make yourself. This is my mum’s recipe. Or my nans, actually. They're the best gingerbread cookies on earth. They're legendary."  
"They are. I've had them many times at your mums place and there's nothing like it." Kian said.

Nicky looked between Mark and Kian as if they were from another planet.

"Look, I don't know about you hillbillies but in Dublin we don't even buy the dough, we buy cookies, full stop. I have no idea what to do with this big chunk of dough!"  
"That’s not what it sounded like a week ago..." Kian said while taking the dough from the bowl and throwing it at Nicky who caught it with both hands like if it had been a football. Nicky grabbed some flour and threw it at Kian. The flour landed not only on Kian, but also on Shane who stood next to them scrolling through his phone.

“What the hell!” Shane screamed and leaped at Nicky.

Mark managed to save the dough before Nicky fell to the floor with Kian and Shane on top of him. They all screamed and giggled like 5-year-olds.

“Mark! Help me!” Nicky yelled.

Mark stood calmly at the kitchen island, taking out his phone and snapping a photo of the three on the floor.

“Nope. I'm texting your wives. They'll be delighted to see how the baking proceeds...” Mark said.

In one second, all three were at their feet, chasing Mark instead.

* * *

“Okay lads, how do we do this? Shall we all do all the steps together, or do we make them like on an assembly line?”

Kian was trying to organize things as usual.

“Assembly line? What do you mean?” Nicky said. “Are you expecting me to have actual responsibility over an actual step in the making of these cookies? I don't know anything about this stuff!”  
“It’s not that complicated. It's just cookies. You said so yourself!”  
“Well yeah. I've...seen gingerbread cookies... At least pictures of them... I know how they look.”

Kian rolled his eyes.

“Okay... Shane...? Do you know how to make them? Your parents had a café, you must've picked up something?”  
“Well you know... Just show me how to make the first one and I'll copy that one.” Shane said, obviously trying to avoid having to confess he didn't have a clue.  
“Okay. Mark, can you show Shnicky here how it's done while I organize the workstations?”  
“Workstations? Ki, aren't you overdoing this a little?” Nicky suggested.  
“Look, we can either do this. Or we can run around throwing flour at each other...”

Mark took a chunk of dough and started to knead it with skillful hands. Shane and Nicky watched, looking like two schoolboys.

“I can't do that. You've got much bigger hands than me.” Nicky complained.  
“That's because you're a mini-man, Nicky.” Shane said.  
“Look who's talking, huh... You’re even smaller!” Nicky retorted.

Mark gave them each a chunk of dough.

“You're being ridiculous, lads. Kids can do this. It's got nothing to do with hand size. Now go on.” he said.  
“You have hands like a farmer.” Nicky said while poking his chunk of dough with a skeptical look on his face.  
“That's because he is a farmer.” Shane said.  
“Can you just stop going on about my hands!” Mark snapped. “They're regular hands, for God's sake!”

Shane and Nicky exchanged a silent look as if saying “No they're not...”

Mark showed them how to roll out the dough, using a rolling pin. Then he cut out a few cookies with a gingerbread mold and moved them to an oven plate.

“That's about it. Then you put them in the oven for seven minutes. And after they’ve cooled off, you can decorate them. Which probably is a task suitable for someone with extremely small hands...” he said and gave Nicky a wink.

Meanwhile, Kian had been setting up four different workstations on the enormous kitchen island.

“Okay lads, listen. If Mark rolls out the dough, I can cut out the cookies, Shane can watch the cookies while they’re in the oven, and Nicky can decorate them. How does that sound?”

* * *

It started out pretty good. They chatted away while working on their different tasks.

”So Mark, what’s it like being a father?” Kian asked.

Mark smiled to himself before answering.

“It’s…everything I ever hoped for, and more. You know, I didn’t realize you could feel so much love. So much love for such a small person. And not only the love. The moment you become a parent you get a whole new register of feelings. It’s scary. I mean, you know me, I didn’t cry easily before. Now I cry at the most ridiculous things! It’s like a doorway has been opened. A doorway to the deepest love and the deepest fears and worries. You must’ve felt it too?”

Mark wasn’t the most talkative out of the four, but when he started talking, he could go on for minutes. And the lads let him.

“Totally.” Kian agreed.  
“Yeah.” Nicky said.

Shane, emotional as always, wiped away a tear and nodded.

“Don’t get tears on the cookies now!” Nicky warned.

“Do you get any sleep…?” Kian asked Mark.  
“Most nights are okay. She’s a pretty chill baby. And we take turns. And it’s only for a short period in life, you know.”  
“Yeah, only five or six years or so…” Nicky joked.  
“And then the next kid comes along…” Kian teased.  
“Aw, come on now lads, don’t pull that _we have older kids so we know more_ crap on Mark. Let’s be nice, okay…” Shane said and went over to Mark to give him a friendly pat on the back.  
“Sorry Mark, I was just kidding.” Nicky said.  
“She’s a little miracle, Mark. She looks just like you. She has your lips and everything.” Shane smiled.

* * *

When the first oven plate of cookies was done and decorated, they gathered around to evaluate the result.

“They're...not great...” Kian said.  
“Well... I left them a tad too long in the oven. Sorry. I was distracted.” Shane said. “But it's not all my fault, you haven't been careful enough while cutting them out, Ki.”  
“Yeah okay. But in addition to that... What the hell have you done to them, Nicky? What is that supposed to be?”

Kian pointed at a few cookies and everyone burst out laughing.

“You’re not supposed to just drizzle the royal icing over them like that. You're supposed to have a plan.” Mark said.  
“Royal icing, huh? I've always thought that was something completely different...” Nicky grinned.

“Okay, maybe we need to approach this differently. Maybe we need to divide the tasks as if this is a song we're about to record, or a tour we're about to go on.” Kian suggested.  
“What do you mean?”  
“Well. Shane, the perfectionist, should probably cut out the cookies. And Mark, the creative one, should of course decorate them. I am the organized one and can keep track of the oven. And Nicky gets to do what he is best at – looking cute, while handling the rolling pin.”  
“I don't even know what that's supposed to mean so I don't know if I should be offended or not. But fine. Give me that.” Nicky said and took the rolling pin from Mark.

* * *

Soon they were at it again. This time with different tasks for each person. This time it went better. For a while, at least.

“I'm already finished with the third batch. Shane, you need to hurry up!” Nicky yelled.  
“It's not a competition, Nicky. And you have to redo the last chunk, you haven't made it thin enough.” Shane said while cutting out the cookies very slowly and carefully.

Nicky went over to Mark who was decorating the cookies in the most amazing ways.

“Mark, they’re fantastic, but you’re becoming a bottle neck here. Can’t you just lay them all out and drizzle some icing over them and then sprinkle them…”

Mark looked up at Nicky with one raised eyebrow. Then he started to explain really slowly:

“Nicky… First, I have to pipe the outline. Then, it has to set slightly before I can flood the rest with slightly thinner icing. This is ART. It can’t be hurried. Thank you very much.”

Kian could see that Nicky was almost bursting with excess energy and that he was extremely frustrated by how much time and effort Shane and Mark put into this.

“Nicky, why don't you go outside and make laps around the house before you continue.” he said while giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder.  
“Okay. Yeah. Good idea.” Nicky said and disappeared.

Shane was searching through the cookie molds on the counter, letting out a frustrated breath.

“Why are there only gingerbread ladies molds? I can’t find any men! Mark?”  
“They’re gingerbread persons, Shane. Think of them as men in kilts if that makes you feel better.” Mark smiled.

Kian went over to Mark to look at the finished cookies.

“Wow Mark. That’s amazing.”  
“Thanks, but it takes time. I’m getting a bit stressed by how fast the cookies are coming.”  
“No worries. Take your time. We can take a pause and have an eggnog or something.”  
“Eggnog, yes. I think I need a drink.”

* * *

A few eggnogs later and they were all singing Christmas carols while making the last batch of cookies.

“Don’t you have a boyband mold, Mark?” Shane joked.  
“Haha. Obviously not! Do I look like I’ve been cast in the same mold as you lot?”

Nicky was finished rolling out the dough and was now sexy dancing, using the rolling pin as a microphone.

“Nicky had too much nog.” Kian said.  
“Nog?” Shane said with a frown.  
“Eggnog without the egg.”  
“Oh. That explains the hip thrusting.”

Shane finished the last oven plate of cookies and Kian put them in the oven.

“So… 2020 is coming to an end lads. What do you think 2021 will bring?” Kian asked.  
“Another tour!” Nicky suggested.  
“And on a personal level? Any goals or anything?” Kian said.  
“I wanna be able to run 5 kilometers in less than 20 minutes.” Shane said.  
“That’s not hard, I can do that.” Nicky replied, ignoring the fact that Kian shook his head and mumbled:  
“No you can’t…”  
“Less than 20 minutes, huh? I’m glad if I can make it in less than 40.” Mark contributed.

“I would like to learn to play the guitar better as well.” Shane said. “Ki, maybe we can get together and you can teach me a few tricks?”  
“Yeah, that would be great.”

“I’d love to play more soccer. I just don’t know how.” Nicky complained. “It’s not like I can do that on me own, I need a team…”  
“What about Soccer Aid?” Kian asked.  
“If I get the invite. Tell you what – wouldn’t it be great if we all participated this year? Imagine all of Westlife. In the same team!”  
“No way, I suck at soccer. When Tennis Aid is a thing – give me a call.” Mark said.

Kian took the last oven plate out of the oven. They sat down around the kitchen table. Mark brought out a plate with four cookies.

“Oh look! It’s us!” Nicky said.

On the plate, there were three smaller gingerbread men (in kilts) and one slightly larger. One of the three smaller ones had ginger hair.

“Look Nicky, a ginger gingerbread man!” Kian laughed.  
“I’m the blonde one, I’ve told you!” Nicky said and bit the head off the cookie.

Shane suddenly stood up and went to the window.

“Lads, I think it’s snowing!”

They all hurried outside. It was pitch black outside, as Mark lived in the countryside. Mark had lit a few candle torches outside earlier and in the light of them, they could see large snowflakes slowly coming down from the black sky.

“This calls for a group hug!” Shane said.

While they were standing there hugging, Mark started singing Silent Night and soon all four of them were singing it, in four harmonies.

Christmas was finally here.


End file.
